This application concerns the field of mammalian therapeutics and the selection of therapeutic regimens utilizing host genetic information, including gene sequence variances within the human genome in human populations.
The rate of approval of new drugs that enter human clinical trials is less than 20%, despite demonstrated efficacy of said new drugs in preclinical models of human disease. In some instances the low response rate in humans is due to genetic heterogeneity in the drug target or the pathway mediating the action of the drug. Identification of the genetic causes of variable drug response would allow more rational clinical development of drugs. Further, many drugs or other treatments approved for use in humans are known to have highly variable safety and efficacy in different individuals. A consequence of such variability is that a given drug or other treatment may be highly effective in one individual, and ineffective or not well tolerated in another individual. Thus, administration of such a drug to an individual in whom the drug would be ineffective would result in wasted cost and time during which the patient""s condition may significantly worsen. Also, administration of a drug to an individual in whom the drug would not be tolerated could result in a direct worsening of the patient""s condition and could even result in the patient""s death.
For some drugs, up to 99% of the measurable variation in selected pharmacokinetic parameters has been shown to be inherited, or associated with genetic factors. Studies have also demonstrated a significant genetic component to pharmacodynamic variation. For a limited number of drugs, discrete gene sequence variances have been identified in specific genes that are involved in drug action, and these variances have been shown to account for the variable efficacy or safety of the drug in different individuals.
The present invention is concerned generally with the field of treatment of diseases and conditions in mammals, particularly in humans. It is concerned with the genetic basis of inter-patient variation in response to therapy, including drug therapy. Specifically, this invention describes the identification of gene sequence variances useful in the field of therapeutics for optimizing efficacy and safety of drug therapy for specific diseases or conditions and for establishing diagnostic tests useful for improving the development and use of pharmaceutical products in the clinic. Methods for identifying genetic variances and determining their utility in the selection of optimal therapy for specific patients are also described, along with probes and related materials which are useful, for example, in identifying the presence of a particular gene sequence variance in cells of an individual. The genes involved in the present invention are those listed in a pathway, gene table, list or example herein.
The inventors have determined that the identification of gene sequence variances within genes that may be involved in drug action is important for determining whether genetic variances account for variable drug efficacy and safety and for determining whether a given drug or other therapy may be safe and effective in an individual patient. Provided in this invention are identifications of genes and sequence variances which can be useful in connection with predicting differences in response to treatment and selection of appropriate treatment of a disease or condition. Such genes and variances have utility in pharmacogenetic association studies and diagnostic tests to improve the use of certain drugs or other therapies including, but not limited to, the drug classes and specific drugs identified in the 1999 Physicians"" Desk Reference (53rd edition), Medical Economics Data, 1998, or the 1995 United States Pharmacopeia XXIII National Formulary XVIII, Interpharm Press, 1994, or other sources as described below.
The terms xe2x80x9cdiseasexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cconditionxe2x80x9d are commonly recognized in the art and designate the presence of signs and/or symptoms in an individual or patient that are generally recognized as abnormal. Diseases or conditions may be diagnosed and categorized based on pathological changes. Signs may include any objective evidence of a disease such as changes that are evident by physical examination of a patient or the results of diagnostic tests which may include, among others, laboratory tests to determine the presence of variances or variant forms of certain genes in a patient. Symptoms are subjective evidence of disease or a patients conditionxe2x80x94i.e. the patients perception of an abnormal condition that differs from normal function, sensation, or appearance, which may include, without limitations, physical disabilities, morbidity, pain, and other changes from the normal condition experienced by an individual. Various diseases or conditions include, but are not limited to, those categorized in standard textbooks of medicine including, without limitation, textbooks of nutrition, allopathic, homeopathic, and osteopathic medicine. In certain aspects of this invention, the disease or condition is selected from the group consisting of the types of diseases listed in standard texts such as Harrison""s Principles of Internal Medicine (14th Ed) by Anthony S. Fauci, Eugene Braunwald, Kurt J. Isselbacher, et al. (Editors), McGraw Hill, 1997, or Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease (6th edition) by Ramzi S. Cotran, Vinay Kumar, Tucker Collins and Stanley L. Robbins, W B Saunders Co., 1998, or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Dsm-IV (4th Ed), American Psychiatric Press, 1994 or other texts described below.
In connection with the methods of this invention, unless otherwise indicated, the term xe2x80x9csuffering from a disease or conditionxe2x80x9d means that a person is either presently subject to the signs and symptoms, or is more likely to develop such signs and symptoms than a normal person in the population. Thus, for example, a person suffering from a condition can include a developing fetus, a person subject to a treatment or environmental condition which enhances the likelihood of developing the signs or symptoms of a condition, or a person who is being given or will be given a treatment which increase the likelihood of the person developing a particular condition. For example, tardive dyskinesia is associated with long-term use of anti-psychotics; gastrointestinal symptoms, alopecia and bone marrow suppression are associated with cancer chemotherapeutic regimens, and immunosuppression is associated with agents to limit graft rejection following transplantation. Thus, methods of the present invention which relate to treatments of patients (e.g., methods for selecting a treatment, selecting a patient for a treatment, and methods of treating a disease or condition in a patient) can include primary treatments directed to a presently active disease or condition, secondary treatments which are intended to cause a biological effect relevant to a primary treatment, and prophylactic treatments intended to delay, reduce, or prevent the development of a disease or condition, as well as treatments intended to cause the development of a condition different from that which would have been likely to develop in the absence of the treatment.
The term xe2x80x9ctherapyxe2x80x9d refers to a process which is intended to produce a beneficial change in the condition of a mammal, e.g., a human, often referred to as a patient. A beneficial change can, for example, include one or more of: restoration of function, reduction of symptoms, limitation or retardation of progression of a disease, disorder, or condition or prevention, limitation or retardation of deterioration of a patient""s condition, disease or disorder. Such therapy can involve, for example, nutritional modifications, administration of radiation, administration of a drug, behavioral modifications and combinations of these, among others.
The term xe2x80x9cdrugxe2x80x9d as used herein refers to a chemical entity or biological product, or combination of chemical entities or biological products, administered to a person to treat or prevent or control a disease or condition. The chemical entity or biological product is preferably, but not necessarily a low molecular weight compound, but may also be a larger compound, for example, an oligomer of nucleic acids, amino acids, or carbohydrates including without limitation proteins, oligonucleotides, ribozymes, DNAzymes, glycoproteins, lipoproteins, and modifications and combinations thereof A biological product is preferably a monoclonal or polyclonal antibody or fragment thereof such as a variable chain fragment cells; or an agent or product arising from recombinant technology, such as, without limitation, a recombinant protein, recombinant vaccine, or DNA construct developed for therapeutic, e.g., human therapeutic, use. The term xe2x80x9cdrugxe2x80x9d may include, without limitation, compounds that are approved for sale as pharmaceutical products by government regulatory agencies (e.g., U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA or FDA), European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA), and a world regulatory body governing the Internation Conference of Harmonization (ICH) rules and guidelines), compounds that do not require approval by government regulatory agencies, food additives or supplements including compounds commonly characterized as vitamins, natural products, and completely or incompletely characterized mixtures of chemical entities including natural compounds or purified or partially purified natural products. The term xe2x80x9cdrugxe2x80x9d as used herein is synonymous with the terms xe2x80x9cmedicinexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cpharmaceutical productxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9cproductxe2x80x9d. Most preferably the drug is approved by a government agency for treatment of a specific disease or condition.
A xe2x80x9clow molecular weight compoundxe2x80x9d has a molecular weight  less than 5,000 Da, more preferably  less than 2500 Da, still more preferably  less than 1000 Da, and most preferably  less than 700 Da.
Those familiar with drug use in medical practice will recognize that regulatory approval for drug use is commonly limited to approved indications, such as to those patients afflicted with a disease or condition for which the drug has been shown to be likely to produce a beneficial effect in a controlled clinical trial. Unfortunately, it has generally not been possible with current knowledge to predict which patients will have a beneficial response, with the exception of certain diseases such as bacterial infections where suitable laboratory methods have been developed. Likewise, it has generally not been possible to determine in advance whether a drug will be safe in a given patient. Regulatory approval for the use of most drugs is limited to the treatment of selected diseases and conditions. The descriptions of approved drug usage, including the suggested diagnostic studies or monitoring studies, and the allowable parameters of such studies, are commonly described in the xe2x80x9clabelxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cinsertxe2x80x9d which is distributed with the drug. Such labels or inserts are preferably required by government agencies as a condition for marketing the drug and are listed in common references such as the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR). These and other limitations or considerations on the use of a drug are also found in medical journals, publications such as pharmacology, pharmacy or medical textbooks including, without limitation, textbooks of nutrition, allopathic, homeopathic, and osteopathic medicine.
Many widely used drugs are effective in a minority of patients receiving the drug, particularly when one controls for the placebo effect. For example, the PDR shows that about 45% of patients receiving Cognex (tacrine hydrochloride) for Alzheimer""s disease show no change or minimal worsening of their disease, as do about 68% of controls (including about 5% of controls who were much worse). About 58% of Alzheimer""s patients receiving Cognex were minimally improved, compared to about 33% of controls, while about 2% of patients receiving Cognex were much improved compared to about 1% of controls. Thus a tiny fraction of patients had a significant benefit. Response to many cancer chemotherapy drugs is even worse. For example, 5-fluorouracil is standard therapy for advanced colorectal cancer, but only about 20-40% of patients have an objective response to the drug, and, of these, only 1-5% of patients have a complete response (complete tumor disappearance; the remaining patients have only partial tumor shrinkage). Conversely, up to 20-30% of patients receiving 5-FU suffer serious gastrointestinal or hematopoietic toxicity, depending on the regimen.
Thus, in a first aspect, the invention provides a method for selecting a treatment for a patient suffering from a disease or condition by determining whether or not a gene or genes in cells of the patient (in some cases including both normal and disease cells, such as cancer cells) contain at least one sequence variance which is indicative of the effectiveness of the treatment of the disease or condition. The gene is one specified herein, in particular one listed in a Table or list herein. Preferably the at least one variance includes a plurality of variances which may provide a haplotype or haplotypes. Preferably the joint presence of the plurality of variances is indicative of the potential effectiveness of the treatment in a patient having such plurality of variances. The plurality of variances may each be indicative of the potential effectiveness of the treatment, and the effects of the individual variances may be independent or additive, or the plurality of variances may be indicative of the potential effectiveness if at least 2, 3, 4, or more appear jointly. The plurality of variances may also be combinations of these relationships. The plurality of variances may include variances from one, two, three or more gene loci.
In a related aspect, the invention concerns a method for providing a correlation between a patient genotype and effectiveness of a treatment, by determining the presence or absence of a particular known variance or variances in cells of a patient for a gene of this invention, and providing a result indicating the expected effectiveness of a treatment for a disease or condition. The result may be formulated by comparing the genotype of the patient with a list of variances indicative of the effectiveness of a treatment, e.g., administration of a drug described herein. The determination may be by methods as described herein or other methods known to those skilled in the art.
In some cases, the selection of a method of treatment, i.e., a therapeutic regimen, may incorporate selection of one or more from a plurality of medical therapies. Thus, the selection may be the selection of a method or methods which is/are more effective or less effective than certain other therapeutic regimens (with either having varying safety parameters). Likewise or in combination with the preceding selection, the selection may be the selection of a method or methods which is safer than certain other methods of treatment in the patient.
The selection may involve either positive selection or negative selection or both, meaning that the selection can involve a choice that a particular method would be an appropriate method to use and/or a choice that a particular method would be an inappropriate method to use. Thus, in certain embodiments, the presence of the at least one variance is indicative that the treatment will be effective or otherwise beneficial (or more likely to be beneficial) in the patient. Stating that the treatment will be effective means that the probability of beneficial therapeutic effect is greater than in a person not having the appropriate presence or absence of particular variances. In other embodiments, the presence of the at least one variance is indicative that the treatment will be ineffective or contra-indicated for the patient. For example, a treatment may be contra-indicated if the treatment results, or is more likely to result, in undesirable side effects, or an excessive level of undesirable side effects. A determination of what constitutes excessive side-effects will vary, for example, depending on the disease or condition being treated, the availability of alternatives, the expected or experienced efficacy of the treatment, and the tolerance of the patient. As for an effective treatment, this means that it is more likely that a desired effect will result from the treatment administration in a patient with a particular variance or variances than in a patient who has a different variance or variances. Also in preferred embodiments, the presence of the at least one variance is indicative that the treatment is effective but results in undesirable effects or outcomes, e.g., has undesirable side-effects.
In reference to response to a treatment, the term xe2x80x9ctolerancexe2x80x9d refers to the ability of a patient to accept a treatment, based, e.g., on deleterious effects and/or effects on lifestyle. Frequently, the term principally concerns the patients perceived magnitude of deleterious effects such as nausea, weakness, dizziness, and diarrhea, among others. Such experienced effects can, for example, be due to general or cell-specific toxicity, activity on non-target cells, cross-reactivity on non-target cellular constituents (non-mechanism based), and/or side-effects of activity on the target cellular subsitutuent (mechanism based), or the cause of toxicity may not be understood. In any of these circumstances one may identify an association between the undesirable effects and variances in specific genes.
Adverse responses to drugs constitute a major medical problem, as shown in two recent meta-analyses (Lazarou, J. et al, Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies, JAMA 279:1200-1205, 1998; Bonn, Adverse drug reactions remain a major cause of death, Lancet 351:1183, 1998). An estimated 2.2 million hospitalized patients in the United Stated had serious adverse drug reactions in 1994, with an estimated 106,000 deaths (Lazarou et al.). To the extent that some of these adverse events are due to genetically encoded biochemical diversity among patients in pathways that effect drug action, the identification of variances that are predictive of such effects will allow for more effective and safer drug use.
In embodiments of this invention, the variance or variant form or forms of a gene is/are associated with a specific response to a drug. The frequency of a specific variance or variant form of the gene may correspond to the frequency of an efficacious response to administration of a drug. Alternatively, the frequency of a specific variance or variant form of the gene may correspond to the frequency of an adverse event resulting from administration of a drug. Alternatively the frequency of a specific variance or variant form of a gene may not correspond closely with the frequency of a beneficial or adverse response, yet the variance may still be useful for identifying a patient subset with high response or toxicity incidence because the variance may account for only a fraction of the patients with high response or toxicity. Preferably, the drug will be effective in more than 20% of individuals with one or more specific variances or variant forms of the gene, more preferably in 40% and most preferably in  greater than 60%. In other embodiments, the drug will be toxic or create clinically unacceptable side effects in more than 10% of individuals with one or more variances or variant forms of the gene, more preferably in  greater than 30%, more preferably in  greater than 50%, and most preferably in  greater than 70% or in more than 90%.
Also in other embodiments, the method of selecting a treatment includes eliminating a treatment, where the presence or absence of the at least one variance is indicative that the treatment will be ineffective or contra-indicated. In other preferred embodiments, in cases in which undesirable side-effects may occur or are expected to occur from a particular therapeutic treatment, the selection of a method of treatment can include identifying both a first and second treatment, where the first treatment is effective to treat the disease or condition, and the second treatment reduces a deleterious effect of the first treatment.
The phrase xe2x80x9celiminating a treatmentxe2x80x9d refers to removing a possible treatment from consideration, e.g., for use with a particular patient based on the presence or absence of a particular variance(s) in one or more genes in cells of that patient, or to stopping the administration of a treatment which was in the course of administration.
Usually, the treatment will involve the administration of a compound preferentially active in patients with a form or forms of a gene, where the gene is one identified herein. The administration may involve a combination of compounds. Thus, in preferred embodiments, the method involves identifying such an active compound or combination of compounds, where the compound is less active or is less safe or both when administered to a patient having a different form of the gene. In preferred embodiments, the compound is a compound in a drug class identified in the 1999 Physicians"" Desk Reference (53rd edition), Medical Economics Data, 1998, the PharmaProjects database, the IMS database or identified herein, e.g., in an exemplary drug table herein (see, e.g., Examples 6, 8, and 9 and Tables 7 and 9 herein).
Also in preferred embodiments, the method of selecting a treatment involves selecting a method of administration of a compound, combination of compounds, or pharmaceutical composition, for example, selecting a suitable dosage level and/or frequency of administration, and/or mode of administration of a compound. The method of administration can be selected to provide better, preferably maximum therapeutic benefit. In this context, xe2x80x9cmaximumxe2x80x9d refers to an approximate local maximum based on the parameters being considered, not an absolute maximum.
Also in this context, a xe2x80x9csuitable dosage levelxe2x80x9d refers to a dosage level which provides a therapeutically reasonable balance between pharmacological effectiveness and deleterious effects. Often this dosage level is related to the peak or aveage serum levels resulting from administration of a drug at the particular dosage level.
Similarly, a xe2x80x9cfrequency of administrationxe2x80x9d refers to how often in a specified time period a treatment is administered, e.g., once, twice, or three times per day, every other day, once per week, etc. For a drug or drugs, the frequency of administration is generally selected to achieve a pharmacologically effective average or peak serum level without excessive deleterious effects (and preferably while still being able to have reasonable patient compliance for self-administered drugs). Thus, it is desirable to maintain the serum level of the drug within a therapeutic window of concentrations for the greatest percentage of time possible without such deleterious effects as would cause a prudent physician to reduce the frequency of administration for a particular dosage level.
A particular gene or genes can be relevant to more than one disease or condition, for example, the gene or genes can have a role in the initiation, development, course, treatment, treatment outcomes, or health-related quality of life outcomes of a number of different diseases, disorders, or conditions. Thus, in preferred embodiments, the disease or condition or treatment of the disease or condition is any which involves a particular gene. Preferably the gene is a gene identified herein.
Determining the presence of a particular variance or plurality of variances in a particular gene in a patient can be performed in a variety of ways. In preferred embodiments, the detection of the presence or absence of at least one variance involves amplifying a segment of nucleic acid including at least one of the at least one variances. Preferably a segment of nucleic acid to be amplified is 500 nucleotides or less in length, more preferably 100 nucleotides or less, and most preferably 45 nucleotides or less. Also, preferably the amplified segment or segments includes a plurality of variances, or a plurality of segments of a gene or of a plurality of genes.
In another aspect determining the presence of a set of variances in a specific gene may entail a haplotyping test that requires allele-specific amplification of a large DNA segment of no greater than 20,000 nucleotides, preferably no greater than 10,000 nucleotides and more preferably no greater than 5,000 nucleotides. Alternatively one allele may be enriched by methods other than amplification prior to determining genotypes at specific variant positions on the enriched allele as a way of determining haplotypes. Preferably the determination of the presence or absence of a variance involves determining the sequence of the variance site or sites by methods such as chain terminating DNA sequencing or minisequencing, or by oligonucleotide hybridization or by mass spectrometry.
The term xe2x80x9cgenotypexe2x80x9d in the context of this invention refers to the particular alleleic form of a gene, which can be defined by the particular nucleotide(s) present in a nucleic acid sequence at a particular site(s).
In preferred embodiments, the detection of the presence or absence of the at least one variance involves contacting a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to one of the genes identified above or a product of such a gene with a probe. The probe is able to distinguish a particular form of the gene or gene product or the presence or a particular variance or variances, e.g., by differential binding or hybridization. Thus, exemplary probes include nucleic acid hybridization probes, peptide nucleic acid probes, nucleotide-containing probes which also contain at least one nucleotide analog, and antibodies, e.g., monoclonal antibodies, and other probes as discussed herein. Those skilled in the art are familiar with the preparation of probes with particular specificities. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a variety of variables can be adjusted to optimize the discrimination between two variant forms of a gene, including changes in salt concentration, temperature, pH and addition of various compounds that affect the differential affinity of GC vs. AT base pairs, such as tetrarnethyl ammonium chloride. (See Current Protocols in Molecular Biology by F. M. Ausubel, R. Brent, R. E. Kingston, D. D. Moore, J. G. Seidman, K. Struhl and V. B. Chanda (Editors), John Wiley and Sons.)
In other preferred embodiments, determining the presence or absence of the at least one variance involves sequencing at least one nucleic acid sequence. The sequencing involves sequencing of a portion or portions of a gene and/or portions of a plurality of genes which includes at least one variance site, and may include a plurality of such sites. Preferably, the portion is 500 nucleotides or less in length, more preferably 100 nucleotides or less, and most preferably 45 nucleotides or less in length. Such sequencing can be carried out by various methods recognized by those skilled in the art, including use of dideoxy termination methods (e.g., using dye-labeled dideoxy nucleotides) and the use of mass spectrometric methods. In addition, mass spectrometric methods may be used to determine the nucleotide present at a variance site. In preferred embodiments in which a plurality of variances is determined, the plurality of variances can constitute a haplotype or haplotypes.
The terms xe2x80x9cvariant form of a genexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cform of a genexe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9callelexe2x80x9d refer to one specific form of a gene in a population, the specific form differing from other forms of the same gene in the sequence of at least one, and frequently more than one, variant sites within the sequence of the gene. The sequences at these variant sites that differ between different alleles of the gene are termed xe2x80x9cgene sequence variancesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cvariancesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cvariantsxe2x80x9d. The term xe2x80x9calternative formxe2x80x9d refers to an allele that can be distinguished from other alleles by having distinct variances at at least one, and frequently more than one, variant sites within the gene sequence. Other terms known in the art to be equivalent include mutation and polymorphism, although mutation is often used to refer to an allele associated with a deleterious phenotype. In preferred aspects of this invention, the variances are selected from the group consisting of the variances listed in the variance tables herein or in a patent or patent application referenced and incorporated by reference in this disclosure. In the methods utilizing variance presence or absence, reference to the presence of a variance or variances means particular variances, i.e., particular nucleotides at particular polymorphic sites, rather than just the presence of any variance in the gene.
Variances occur in the human genome at approximately one in every 500-1,000 bases within the human genome when two alleles are compared. When multiple alleles from unrelated individuals are compared the frequency of variant sites increases. At most variant sites there are only two alternative nucleotides involving the substitution of one base for another or the insertion/deletion of one or more nucleotides. Within a gene there may be several variant sites. Variant forms of the gene or alternative alleles can be distinguished by the presence of alternative variances at a single variant site, or a combination of several different variances at different sites (haplotypes).
It is estimated that there are 3,300,000,000 bases in the sequence of a single haploid human genome. All human cells except germ cells are normally diploid. Each gene in the genome may span 100-10,000,000 bases of DNA sequence or 100-20,000 bases of mRNA. It is estimated that there are between 60,000 and 120,000 genes in the human genome. The xe2x80x9cidentificationxe2x80x9d of genetic variances or variant forms of a gene involves the discovery of variances that are present in a population. The identification of variances is required for development of a diagnostic test to determine whether a patient has a variant form of a gene that is known to be associated with a disease, condition, or predisposition or with the efficacy or safety of the drug. Identification of previously undiscovered genetic variances is distinct from the process of xe2x80x9cdeterminingxe2x80x9d the status of known variances by a diagnostic test. The present invention provides exemplary variances in genes listed in the gene tables, as well as methods for discovering additional variances in those genes and a comprehensive written description of such additional possible variances. Also described are methods for DNA diagnostic tests to determine the DNA sequence at a particular variant site or sites.
The process of xe2x80x9cidentifyingxe2x80x9d or discovering new variances involves comparing the sequence of at least two alleles of a gene, more preferably at least 10 alleles and most preferably at least 50 alleles, (keeping in mind that each somatic cell has two alleles). The analysis of large numbers of individuals to discover variances in the gene sequence between individuals in a population will result in detection of a greater fraction of all the variances in the population. Preferably the process of identifying reveals whether there is a variance within the gene; more preferably identifying reveals the location of the variance within the gene; more preferably identifying provides knowledge of the sequence of the nucleic acid sequence of the variance, and most preferably identifying provides knowledge of the combination of different variances that comprise specific variant forms of the gene or alleles. In identifying new variances it is often useful to screen different population groups based on racial, ethnic, gender, and/or geographic origin because particular variances may differ in frequency between such groups. It may also be useful to screen DNA from individuals with a particular disease or condition of interest because they may have a higher frequency of certain variances than the general population.
The process of determining involves using diagnostic tests for specific variances or variant forms of the gene (or genes) that have been identified within the gene. It will be apparent that such diagnostic tests can only be performed after variances and variant forms of the gene have been identified. Identification of variances can be performed by a variety of methods, alone or in combination, including, for example, DNA sequencing, SSCP, heteroduplex analysis, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), heteroduplex cleavage (either enzymatic as with T4 Endonuclease 7, or chemical as with osmium tetroxide and hydroxylamine), computational methods (described herein), and other methods described herein as well as others known to those skilled in the art. (See, for example: Cotton, R. G. H., Slowly but surely towards better scanning for mutations, Trends in Genetics 13(2):43-6, 1997, or Current Protocols in Human Genetics by N. C. Dracopoli, J. L. Haines, B. R. Korf, D. T. Moir, C. C. Morton, C. E. Seidman, J. G. Seidman, D. R. Smith and A. Boyle (Editors), John Wiley and Sons.)
In the context of this invention, the term xe2x80x9canalyzing a sequencexe2x80x9d refers to determining at least some sequence information about the sequence, e.g., determining the nucleotides present at particular sites in the sequence or determining the base sequence of all of a portion of the particular sequence.
In the context of this invention, the term xe2x80x9chaplotypexe2x80x9d refers to a cis arrangement of two or more polymorphic nucleotides, i.e., variances, on a particular chromosome, e.g., in a particular gene. The haplotype preserves the information of the phase of the polymorphic nucleotidesxe2x80x94that is, which set of variances were inherited from one parent, and which from the other.
In preferred embodiments of this invention, the frequency of the variance or variant form of the gene in a population is known. Measures of frequency known in the art include xe2x80x9callele frequencyxe2x80x9d, namely the fraction of genes in a population that have one specific variance or set of variances. The allele frequencies for any gene should sum to 1. Another measure of frequency known in the art is the xe2x80x9cheterozygote frequencyxe2x80x9d namely, the fraction of individuals in a population who carry two alleles, or two forms of a particular variance or variant form of a gene, one inherited from each parent. Alternatively, the number of individuals who are homozygous for a particular form of a gene may be a useful measure. The relationship between allele frequency, heterozygote frequency, and homozygote frequency is described for many genes by the Hardy-Weinberg equation, which provides the relationship between allele frequency, heterozygote frequency and homozygote frequency in a freely breeding population at equilibrium. Most human variances are substantially in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. In a preferred aspect of this invention, the allele frequency, heterozygote frequency, or homozygote frequency are determined experimentally. Preferably a variance has an allele frequency of at least 0.01, more preferably at least 0.05, still more preferably at least 0.10. However, the allele may have a frequency as low as 0.001 if the associated phenotype is a rare form of toxic reaction to the treatment or drug.
In this regard, xe2x80x9cpopulationxe2x80x9d refers to a geographically, ethnically, racially, gender, and/or culturally defined group of individuals or a group of individuals with a particular disease or condition or individuals that may be treated with a specific drug. In most cases a population will preferably encompass at least ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, ten million, or more individuals, with the larger numbers being more preferable. In a preferred aspect of this invention, the population refers to individuals with a specific disease or condition that may be treated with a specific drug. In an aspect of this invention, the allele frequency, heterozygote frequency, or homozygote frequency of a specific variance or variant form of a gene is known. In preferred embodiments of this invention, the frequency of one or more variances that may predict response to a treatment is determined in one or more populations using a diagnostic test.
It should be emphasized that it is currently not generally practical to study entire gene sequences in entire populations to establish the association between a specific disease or condition and a specific variance or variant form of the gene. Such studies are commonly performed in controlled clinical trials using a limited number of patients that are considered to be representative of the population with the disease.
In the context of this invention, the term xe2x80x9cprobexe2x80x9d refers to a molecule which can detectably distinguish between target molecules differing in structure. Detection can be accomplished in a variety of different ways depending on the type of probe used and the type of target molecule. Thus, for example, detection may be based on discrimination of activity levels of the target molecule, but preferably is based on detection of specific binding. Examples of such specific binding include antibody binding and nucleic acid probe hybridization. Thus, for example, probes can include enzyme substrates, antibodies and antibody fragments, and nucleic acid hybridization probes. Thus, in preferred embodiments, the detection of the presence or absence of the at least one variance involves contacting a nucleic acid sequence which includes a variance site with a probe, preferably a nucleic acid probe, where the probe preferentially hybridizes with a form of the nucleic acid sequence containing a complementary base at the variance site as compared to hybridization to a form of the nucleic acid sequence having a non-complementary base at the variance site, where the hybridization is carried out under selective hybridization conditions. Such a nucleic acid hybridization probe may span two or more variance sites. Unless otherwise specified, a nucleic acid probe can include one or more nucleic acid analogs, labels or other substituents or moieties so long as the base-pairing function is retained.
As is generally understood, administration of a particular treatment, e.g., administration of a therapeutic compound or combination of compounds, is chosen depending on the disease or condition which is to be treated. Thus, in certain preferred embodiments, the disease or condition is one for which administration of a treatment is expected to provide a therapeutic benefit; in certain embodiments, the compound is a compound identified herein, e.g., in a drug table such as Tables 7 and 9.
As used herein, the terms xe2x80x9ceffectivexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ceffectivenessxe2x80x9d includes both pharmacological effectiveness and physiological safety. Pharmacological effectiveness refers to the ability of the treatment to result in a desired biological effect in the patient. Physiological safety refers to the level of toxicity, or other adverse physiological effects at the cellular, organ and/or organism level (often referred to as side-effects) resulting from administration of the treatment. On the other hand, the term xe2x80x9cineffectivexe2x80x9d indicates that a treatment does not provide sufficient pharmacological effect to be therapeutically useful, even in the absence of deleterious effects, at least in the total (unstratified) population. (Such a treatment may be effective in a subgroup that can be identified by the presence of one or more sequence variances or alleles.) xe2x80x9cLess effectivexe2x80x9d means that the treatment results in a therapeutically significant lower level of pharmacological effectiveness and/or a therapeutically greater level of adverse physiological effects.
Thus, in connection with the administration of a drug, a drug which is xe2x80x9ceffective againstxe2x80x9d a disease or condition indicates that administration in a clinically appropriate manner results in a beneficial effect for at least a statistically significant fraction of patients, such as a improvement of symptoms, a cure, a reduction in disease load, reduction in tumor mass or cell numbers, extension of life, improvement in quality of life, or other effect generally recognized as positive by medical doctors familiar with treating the particular type of disease or condition.
The term xe2x80x9cdeleterious effectsxe2x80x9d refers to physical effects in a patient caused by administration of a treatment which are regarded as medically undesirable. Thus, for example, deleterious effects can include a wide spectrum of toxic effects injurious to health such as death of normal cells when only death of diseased cells is desired, nausea, fever, inability to retain food, dehydration, damage to critical organs such as renal tubular necrosis, fatty liver or pulmonary fibrosis, among many others. In this regard, the term xe2x80x9ccontra-indicatedxe2x80x9d means that a treatment results in deleterious effects such that a prudent medical doctor treating such a patient would regard the treatment as unsuitable for administration. Major factors in such a determination can include, for example, availability and relative advantages of alternative treatments, consequences of non-treatment, and permanency of deleterious effects of the treatment.
It is recognized that many treatment methods, e.g., administration of certain compounds or combinations of compounds, produces side-effects or other deleterious effects in patients. Such effects can limit or even preclude use of the treatment method in particular patients, or may even result in irreversible injury, dysfunction, or death of the patient. Thus, in certain embodiments, the variance information is used to select both a first method of treatment and a second method of treatment. Usually the first treatment is a primary treatment which provides a physiological effect directed against the disease or condition or its symptoms. The second method is directed to reducing or eliminating one or more deleterious effects of the first treatment, e.g., to reduce a general toxicity or to reduce a side effect of the primary treatment. Thus, for example, the second method can be used to allow use of a greater dose or duration of the first treatment, or to allow use of the first treatment in patients for whom the first treatment would not be tolerated or would be contra-indicated in the absence of a second method to reduce deleterious effects.
In a related aspect, the invention provides a method for selecting a method of treatment for a patient suffering from a disease or condition by comparing at least one variance in at least one gene in the patient, with a list of variances in the gene or genes which are indicative of the effectiveness of at least one method of treatment. Preferably the comparison involves a plurality of variances or a haplotype indicative of the effectiveness of at least one method of treatment. Also, preferably the list of variances includes a plurality of variances.
Similar to the above aspect, in preferred embodiments the at least one method of treatment involves the administration of a compound effective in at least some patients with a disease or condition; the presence or absence of the at least one variance is indicative that the treatment will be effective in the patient; and/or the presence or absence of the at least one variance is indicative that the treatment will be ineffective or contra-indicated in the patient; and/or the treatment is a first treatment and the presence or absence of the at least one variance is indicative that a second treatment will be beneficial to reduce a deleterious effect of the first treatment; and/or the at least one treatment is a plurality of methods of treatment. For a plurality of treatments, preferably the selecting involves determining whether any of the methods of treatment will be more effective than at least one other of the plurality of methods of treatment. Yet other embodiments are provided as described for the preceding aspect in connection with methods of treatment using administration of a compound; treatment of various diseases, and variances in particular genes.
In the context of variance information in the methods of this invention, the term xe2x80x9clistxe2x80x9d refers to one or more variances which have been identified for a series or genes of potential importance in accounting for inter-individual variation in treatment response. Preferably there is a plurality of variances for the gene or genes, preferably a plurality of variances for a particular gene. Preferably the list is recorded in written or electronic form. For example, variances are recorded in Tables 3, 4, and 10 and additional gene variance identification tables herein in a form which allows comparison with other variance information.
In addition to the basic method of treatment, often the mode of administration of a given compound as a treatment for a disease or condition in a patient is significant in determining the course and/or outcome of the treatment for the patient. Thus, the invention also provides a method for selecting a method of administration of a compound to a patient suffering from a disease or condition, by determining the presence or absence of at least one variance in cells of the patient in a gene which is a gene selected from the genes identified in a gene table or list below, where such presence or absence is indicative of an appropriate method of administration of the compound. Preferably, the selection of a method of treatment (a treatment regimen) involves selecting a dosage level or frequency of administration or route of administration of the compound or combinations of those parameters. In preferred embodiments, two or more compounds are to be administered, and the selecting involves selecting a method of administration for one, two, or more than two of the compounds, jointly, concurrently, or separately. As understood by those skilled in the art, such plurality of compounds is often used in combination therapy, and thus may be formulated in a single drug, or may be separate drugs administered concurrently, serially, or separately. Other embodiments are as indicated above for selection of second treatment methods, methods of identifying variances, and methods of treatment as described for aspects above.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for selecting a patient for administration of a method of treatment for a disease or condition, or of selecting a patient for a method of administration of a treatment, by comparing the presence or absence of at least one variance in a gene as identified above in cells of a patient, with a list of variances in the gene, where the presence or absence of the at least one variance is indicative that the treatment or method of administration will be effective in the patient. If the at least one variance is present in the patient""s cells, then the patient is selected for administration of the treatment.
In preferred embodiments, the disease or the method of treatment is as described in aspects above, specifically including, for example, those described for selecting a method of treatment
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for identifying a subset of patients with enhanced or diminished response or tolerance to a treatment method or a method of administration of a treatment where the treatment is for a disease or condition in the patient. The method involves correlating one or more variances in one or more genes in a plurality of patients with response to a treatment or a method of administration of a treatment. The correlation may be performed by determining the one or more variances in the one or more genes in the plurality of patients and correlating the presence or absence of each of the variances (alone or in various combinations) with the patient""s response to treatment. The variances may be previously known to exist or may also be determined in the present method or combinations of prior information and newly determined information may be used. The enhanced or diminished response should be statistically significant, preferably such that p=0.10 or less, more preferably 0.05 or less, and most preferably 0.02 or less. A positive correlation between the presence of one or more variances and an enhanced response to treatment is indicative that the treatment is particularly effective in the group of patients having those variances. A positive correlation of the presence of the one or more variances with a diminished response to the treatment is indicative that the treatment will be less effective in the group of patients having those variances. Such information is useful, for example, for selecting or de-selecting patients for a particular treatment or method of administration of a treatment, or for demonstrating that a group of patients exists for which the treatment or method of treatment would be particularly beneficial or contra-indicated. Such demonstration can be beneficial, for example, for obtaining government regulatory approval for a new drug or a new use of a drug.
In preferred embodiments, the variances are in particular genes, or are particular variances described herein. Also, preferred embodiments include drugs, treatments, variance identification or determination, determination of effectiveness, lists, and/or diseases as described for aspects above or otherwise described herein.
In preferred embodiments, the correlation of patient responses to therapy according to patient genotype is carried out in a clinical trial, e.g., as described herein according to any of the variations described. Detailed description of methods for associating variances with clinical outcomes using clinical trials are provided below.
As indicated above, in aspects of this invention involving selection of a patient for a treatment, selection of a method or mode of administration of a treatment, and selection of a patient for a treatment or a method of treatment, the selection may be positive selection or negative selection. Thus, the methods can include eliminating a treatment for a patient, eliminating a method or mode of administration of a treatment to a patient, or elimination of a patient for a treatment or method of treatment.
Also, in methods involving identification and/or comparison of variances present in a gene of a patient, the methods can involve such identification or comparison for a plurality of genes. Preferably, the genes are functionally related to the same disease or condition, or to the aspect of disease pathophysiology that is being subjected to pharmacological manipulation by the treatment (e.g. a drug), or to the activation or inactivation of the drug, and more preferably the genes are involved in the same biochemical process or pathway.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for identifying the forms of a gene in an individual, where the gene is one specified as for aspects above, by determining the presence or absence of at least one variance in the gene. In preferred embodiments, the at least one variance includes at least one variance selected from the group of variances identified in variance tables herein. Preferably, the presence or absence of the at least one variance is indicative of the effectiveness of a therapeutic treatment in a patient suffering from a disease or condition and having cells containing the at least one variance.
The presence or absence of the variances can be determined in any of a variety of ways as recognized by those skilled in the art. For example, the nucleotide sequence of at least one nucleic acid sequence which includes at least one variance site (or a complementary sequence) can be determined, such as by chain termination methods, hybridization methods or by mass spectrometric methods. Likewise, in preferred embodiments, the determining involves contacting a nucleic acid sequence or a gene product of one of one of the genes with a probe which specifically identifies the presence or absence of a form of the gene. For example, a probe, e.g., a nucleic acid probe, can be used which specifically binds, e.g., hybridizes, to a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to a portion of the gene and which includes at least one variance site under selective binding conditions. As described for other aspects, determining the presence or absence of at least two variances can constitute determining a haplotype or haplotypes.
Other preferred embodiments involve variances related to types of treatment, drug responses, diseases, nucleic acid sequences, and other items related to variances and variance determination as described for aspects above.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a pharmaceutical composition which includes a compound which has a differential effect in patients having at least one copy, or alternatively, two copies of a form of a gene as identified for aspects above and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, excipient, or diluent. The composition is adapted to be preferentially effective to treat a patient with cells containing the one, two, or more copies of the form of the gene.
In preferred embodiments of aspects involving pharmaceutical compositions, active compounds, or drugs, the material is subject to a regulatory limitation or restriction on approved uses or indications, e.g., by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), limiting approved use of the composition to patients having at least one copy of the particular formn of the gene which contains at least one variance. Alternatively, the composition is subject to a regulatory limitation or restriction on approved uses indicating that the composition is not approved for use or should not be used in patients having at least one copy of a form of the gene including at least one variance. Also in preferred embodiments, the composition is packaged, and the packaging includes a label or insert indicating or suggesting beneficial therapeutic approved use of the composition in patients having one or two copies of a form of the gene including at least one variance.
Alternatively, the label or insert limits approved use of the composition to patients having zero or one or two copies of a form of the gene including at least one variance. The latter embodiment would be likely where the presence of the at least one variance in one or two copies in cells of a patient means that the composition would be ineffective or deleterious to the patient. Also in preferred embodiments, the composition is indicated for use in treatment of a disease or condition which is one of those identified for aspects above. Also in preferred embodiments, the at least one variance includes at least one variance from those identified herein.
The term xe2x80x9cpackagedxe2x80x9d means that the drug, compound, or composition is prepared in a manner suitable for distribution or shipping with a box, vial, pouch, bubble pack, or other protective container, which may also be used in combination. The packaging may have printing on it and/or printed material may be included in the packaging.
In preferred embodiments, the drug is selected from the drug classes or specific exemplary drugs identified in an example, in a table or list herein, and is subject to a regulatory limitation or suggestion or warning as described above that limits or suggests limiting approved use to patients having specific variances or variant forms of a gene identified in Examples or in a gene list provided below in order to achieve maximal benefit and avoid toxicity or other deleterious effect.
A pharmaceutical composition can be adapted to be preferentially effective in a variety of ways. In some cases, an active compound is selected which was not previously known to be differentially active, or which was not previously recognized as a potential therapeutic compound. In some cases, the concentration of an active compound which has differential activity can be adjusted such that the composition is appropriate for administration to a patient with the specified variances. For example, the presence of a specified variance may allow or require the administration of a much larger dose, which would not be practical with a previously utilized composition. Conversely, a patient may require a much lower dose, such that administration of such a dose with a prior composition would be impractical or inaccurate. Thus, the composition may be prepared in a higher or lower unit dose form, or prepared in a higher or lower concentration of the active compound or compounds. In yet other cases, the composition can include additional compounds needed to enable administration of a particular active compound in a patient with the specified variances, which was not in previous compositions, e.g., because the majority of patients did not require or benefit from the added component.
The term xe2x80x9cdifferentialxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdifferentiallyxe2x80x9d generally refers to a statistically significant different level in the specified property or effect. Perferably, the difference is also finctionally significant. Thus, xe2x80x9cdifferential binding or hybridizationxe2x80x9d is sufficient difference in binding or hybridization to allow discrimination using an appropriate detection technique. Likewise, xe2x80x9cdifferential effectxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdifferentially activexe2x80x9d in connection with a therapeutic treatment or drug refers to a difference in the level of the effect or activity which is distinguishable using relevant parameters and techniques for the effect or activity being considered. Preferably the difference in effect or activity is also sufficient to be clinically significant, such that a corresponding difference in the course of treatment or treatment outcome would be expected, at least on a probabilistic basis.
Also usefully provided in the present invention are probes which specifically recognize a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to a variance or variances in a gene or a product expressed from the gene, and are able to distinguish a variant form of the sequence or gene or gene product from one or more other variant forms of that sequence, gene, or gene product under selective conditions. Those skilled in the art recognize and understand the identification or determination of selective conditions for particular probes or types of probes. An exemplary type of probe is a nucleic acid hybridization probe, which will selectively bind under selective binding conditions to a nucleic acid sequence or a gene product corresponding to one or the genes identified for aspects above. Another type of probe is a peptide or protein, e.g., an antibody or antibody fragment which specifically or preferentially binds to a polypeptide expressed from a particular form of a gene as characterized by the presence or absence of at least one variance. Thus, in another aspect, the invention concerns such probes. In the context of this invention, a xe2x80x9cprobexe2x80x9d is a molecule, commonly a nucleic acid, though also potentially a protein, carbohydrate, polymer, or small molecule, that is capable of binding to one variance or variant form of the gene or gene product to a greater extent than to a form of the gene having a different base at one or more variance sites, such that the presence of the variance or variant form of the gene can be determined. Preferably the probe distinguishes at least one variance identified in Examples, tables or lists below. Preferably the probe also has specificity for the particular gene or gene product, at least to an extent such that binding to other genes or gene products does not prevent use of the assay to identify the presence or absence of the particular variance or variances of interest.
In preferred embodiments, the probe is an antibody or antibody fragment. Such antibodies may be polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies, and can be prepared by methods well-known in the art. In preferred embodiments, the probe is a nucleic acid probe at least 15, preferably at least 17 nucleotides in length, more preferably at least 20 or 22 or 25, preferably 500 or fewer nucleotides in length, more preferably 200 or 100 or fewer, still more preferably 50 or fewer, and most preferably 30 or fewer. In preferred embodiments, the probe has a length in a range from any one of the above lengths to any other of the above lengths (including endpoints). The probe specifically hybridizes under selective hybridization conditions to a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to a portion of one of the genes identified in connection with above aspects. The nucleic acid sequence includes at least one and preferably two or more variance sites. Also in preferred embodiments, the probe has a detectable label, preferably a fluorescent label. A variety of other detectable labels are known to those skilled in the art. Such a nucleic acid probe can also include one or more nucleic acid analogs.
In preferred embodiments, the probe is an antibody or antibody fragment which specifically binds to a gene product expressed from a form of one of the above genes, where the form of the gene has at least one specific variance with a particular base at the variance site, and preferably a plurality of such variances.
In connection with nucleic acid probe hybridization, the term xe2x80x9cspecifically hybridizesxe2x80x9d indicates that the probe hybridizes to a sufficiently greater degree to the target sequence than to a sequence having a mismatched base at at least one variance site to allow distinguishing such hybridization. The term xe2x80x9cspecifically hybridizesxe2x80x9d thus means that the probe hybridizes to the target sequence, and not to non-target sequences, at a level which allows ready identification of probe/target sequence hybridization under selective hybridization conditions. Thus, xe2x80x9cselective hybridization conditionsxe2x80x9d refer to conditions which allow such differential binding. Similarly, the terms xe2x80x9cspecifically bindsxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cselective binding conditionsxe2x80x9d refer to such differential binding of any type of probe, e.g., antibody probes, and to the conditions which allow such differential binding. Typically hybridization reactions to determine the status of variant sites in patient samples are carried out with two different probes, one specific for each of the (usually two) possible variant nucleotides. The complementary information derived from the two separate hybridization reactions is useful in corroborating the results.
Likewise, the invention provides an isolated, purified or enriched nucleic acid sequence of 15 to 500 nucleotides in length, preferably 15 to 100 nucleotides in length, more preferably 15 to 50 nucleotides in length, and most preferably 15 to 30 nucleotides in length, which has a sequence which corresponds to a portion of one of the genes identified for aspects above. Preferably the lower limit for the preceding ranges is 17, 20, 22, or 25 nucleotides in length. In other embodiments, the nucleic acid sequence is 30 to 300 nucleotides in length, or 45 to 200 nucleotides in length, or 45 to 100 nucleotides in length. The nucleic acid sequence includes at least one variance site. Such sequences can, for example, be amplification products of a sequence which spans or includes a variance site in a gene identified herein. Likewise, such a sequence can be a primer, or amplification oligonucleotide which is able to bind to or extend through a variance site in such a gene. Yet another example is a nucleic acid hybridization probe comprised of such a sequence. In such probes, primers, and amplification products, the nucleotide sequence can contain a sequence or site corresponding to a variance site or sites, for example, a variance site identified herein. Preferably the presence or absence of a particular variant form in the heterozygous or homozygous state is indicative of the effectiveness of a method of treatment in a patient.
Typically primers are utilized in pairs. Primers can be designed or selected by methods well-known to those skilled in the art based on nucleotide sequences corresponding to at least a portion or a gene identified herein. The primer or primers hybridizes to or allows amplification (e.g., using the polymerase chain reaction) through a nucleic acid sequence containing at least one sequence variance. Preferably such primers hybridize to a sequence not more than 300 nucleotides, more preferably not more than 200 nucleotides, still more preferably not more than 100 nucleotides, and most preferably not more than 50 nucleotides away from a variance site which is to be analyzed. Preferably, a primer is 100 nucleotides or fewer in length, more preferably 50 nucleotides or fewer, still more preferable 30 nucleotides or fewer, and most preferably 20 or fewer nucleotides in length.
Likewise, the invention provides a set of primers or amplification oligonucleutides (e.g., 2,3,4,6,8,10 or even more) adapted for binding to or extending through at least one gene identified herein. In preferred embodiments the set includes primers or amplification oligonucleotides adapted to bind to or extend through a plurality of sequence variances in a gene(s) identified herein. The plurality of variances preferably provides a haplotype. Those skilled in the art are familiar with the use of amplification oligonucleotides (e.g., PCR primers) and the appropriate location, testing and use of such oligonucleotides. In certain embodiments, the oligonucleotides are designed and selected to provide variance-specific amplification.
In reference to nucleic acid sequences which xe2x80x9ccorrespondxe2x80x9d to a gene, the term xe2x80x9ccorrespondxe2x80x9d refers to a nucleotide sequence relationship, such that the nucleotide sequence has a nucleotide sequence which is the same as the reference gene or an indicated portion thereof, or has a nucleotide sequence which is exactly complementary in normal Watson-Crick base pairing, or is an RNA equivalent of such a sequence, e.g., a mRNA, or is a cDNA derived from an mRNA of the gene.
In a related aspect, the invention provides a kit containing at least one probe or at least one primer or both (e.g., as described above) corresponding to a gene or genes of this invention. The kit is preferably adapted and configured to be suitable for identification of the presence or absence of a particular variance or variances, which can include or consist of sequence a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to a portion of a gene. The kit may also contain a plurality of either or both of such probes and/or primers, e.g., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or more of such probes and/or primers. Preferably the plurality of probes and/or primers are adapted to provide detection of a plurality of different sequence variances in a gene or plurality of genes, e.g., in 2, 3, 4, 5, or more genes or to sequence a nucleic acid sequence including at least one variance site in a gene or genes. Preferably one or more of the variance or variances to be detected are correlated with variability in a treatment response or tolerance, and are preferably indicative of an effective response to a treatment. In preferred embodiments, the kit contains components (e.g., probes and/or primers) adapted or useful for detection of a plurality of variances (which may be in one or more genes) indicative of the effectiveness of at least one treatment, preferably of a plurality of different treatments for a particular disease or condition. It may also be desirable to provide a kit containing components adapted or useful to allow detection of a plurality of variances indicative of the effectiveness of a treatment or treatment against a plurality of diseases. The kit may also optionally contain other components, preferably other components adapted for identifying the presence of a particular variance or variances. Such additional components can, for example, independently include a buffer or buffers, e.g., amplification buffers and hybridization buffers, which may be in liquid or dry form, a DNA polymerase, e.g., a polymerase suitable for carrying out PCR, and deoxy nucleotide triphosphases (dNTPs). Preferably a probe includes a detectable label, e.g., a fluorescent label, enzyme label, light scattering label, or other label. Preferably the kit includes a nucleic acid or polypeptide array. The array may, for example, include a plurality of different antibodies, a plurality of different nucleic acid sequences. Sites in the array can allow capture and/or detection of nucleic acid sequences or gene products corresponding to different variances in one or more different genes. Preferably the array is arranged to provide variance detection for a plurality of variances in one or more genes which correlate with the effectiveness of one or more treatments of one or more diseases.
The kit may also optionally contain instructions for use, which can include a listing of the variances correlating with a particular treatment or treatments for a disease of diseases.
Preferably the kit components are selected to allow detection of a variance described herein, and/or detection of a variance indicative of a treatment, e.g., administration of a drug, pointed out herein.
Additional configurations for kits of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for determining a genotype of an individual in relation to one or more variances in one or more of the genes identified in above aspects by using mass spectrometric determination of a nucleic acid sequence which is a portion of a gene identified for other aspects of this invention or a complementary sequence. Such mass spectrometric methods are known to those skilled in the art. In preferred embodiments, the method involves determining the presence or absence of a variance in a gene; determining the nucleotide sequence of the nucleic acid sequence; the nucleotide sequence is 100 nucleotides or less in length, preferably 50 or less, more preferably 30 or less, and still more preferably 20 nucleotides or less. In general, such a nucleotide sequence includes at least one variance site, preferably a variance site which is informative with respect to the expected response of a patient to a treatment as described for above aspects.
As indicated above, many therapeutic compounds or combinations of compounds or pharmaceutical compositions show variable efficacy and/or safety in various patients in whom the compound or compounds is administered. Thus, it is beneficial to identify variances in relevant genes, e.g., genes related to the action or toxicity of the compound or compounds. Thus, in a further aspect, the invention provides a method for determining whether a compound has a differential effect due to the presence or absence of at least one variance in a gene or a variant form of a gene, where the gene is a gene identified for aspects above.
The method involves identifying a first patient or set of patients suffering from a disease or condition whose response to a treatment differs from the response (to the same treatment) of a second patient or set of patients suffering from the same disease or condition, and then determining whether the frequency of at least one variance in at least one gene differs in frequency between the first patient or set of patients and the second patient or set of patients. A correlation between the presence or absence of the variance or variances and the response of the patient or patients to the treatment indicates that the variance provides information about variable patient response. In general, the method will involve identifying at least one variance in at least one gene. An alternative approach is to identify a first patient or set of patients suffering from a disease or condition and having a particular genotype, haplotype or combination of genotypes or haplotypes, and a second patient or set of patients suffering from the same disease or condition that have a genotype or haplotype or sets of genotypes or haplotypes that differ in a specific way from those of the first set of patients. Subsequently the extent and magnitude of clinical response can be compared between the first patient or set of patients and the second patient or set of patients. A correlation between the presence or absence of a variance or variances or haplotypes and the response of the patient or patients to the treatment indicates that the variance provides information about variable patient response and is useful for the present invention.
The method can utilize a variety of different informative comparisons to identify correlations. For example a plurality of pairwise comparisons of treatment response and the presence or absence of at least one variance can be performed for a plurality of patients. Likewise, the method can involve comparing the response of at least one patient homozygous for at least one variance with at least one patient homozygous for the alternative form of that variance or variances. The method can also involve comparing the response of at least one patient heterozygous for at least one variance with the response of at least one patient homozygous for the at least one variance. Preferably the heterozygous patient response is compared to both alternative homozygous forms, or the response of heterozygous patients is grouped with the response of one class of homozygous patients and said group is compared to the response of the alternative homozygous group.
Such methods can utilize either retrospective or prospective information concerning treatment response variability. Thus, in a preferred embodiment, it is previously known that patient response to the method of treatment is variable.
Also in preferred embodiments, the disease or condition is as for other aspects of this invention; for example, the treatment involves administration of a compound or pharmaceutical composition.
In preferred embodiments, the method involves a clinical trial, e.g., as described herein. Such a trial can be arranged, for example, in any of the ways described herein, e.g., in the Detailed Description.
The present invention also provides methods of treatment of a disease or condition. Such methods combine identification of the presence or absence of particular variances with the administration of a compound; identification of the presence of particular variances with selection of a method of treatment and administration of the treatment; and identification of the presence or absence of particular variances with elimination of a method of treatment based on the variance information indicating that the treatment is likely to be ineffective or contra-indicated, and thus selecting and administering an alternative treatment effective against the disease or condition. Thus, preferred embodiments of these methods incorporate preferred embodiments of such methods as described for such sub-aspects.
As used herein, a xe2x80x9cgenexe2x80x9d is a sequence of DNA present in a cell that directs the expression of a xe2x80x9cbiologically activexe2x80x9d molecule or xe2x80x9cgene productxe2x80x9d, most commonly by transcription to produce RNA and translation to produce protein. The xe2x80x9cgene product∞ is most commonly a RNA molecule or protein or a RNA or protein that is subsequently modified by reacting with, or combining with, other constituents of the cell. Such modifications may include, without limitation, modification of proteins to form glycoproteins, lipoproteins, and phosphoproteins, or other modifications known in the art. RNA may be modified without limitation by complexing with proteins, polyadenylation, splicing, capping or export from the nucleus. The term xe2x80x9cgene productxe2x80x9d refers to any product directly resulting from transcription of a gene. In particular this includes partial, precursor, and mature transcription products (i.e, pre-mRNA and mRNA), and translation products with or without further processing including, without limitation, lipidation, phosphorylation, glycosylation, or combinations of such processing
The term xe2x80x9cgene involved in the origin or pathogenesis of a disease or conditionxe2x80x9d refers to a gene that harbors mutations that contribute to the cause of disease, or variances that affect the progression of the disease or expression of specific characteristic of the disease. The term also applies to genes involved in the synthesis, accumulation, or elimination of products that are involved in the origin or pathogenesis of a disease or condition including, without limitation, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, hormones, or small molecules.
The term xe2x80x9cgene involved in the action of a drugxe2x80x9d refers to any gene whose gene product affects the efficacy or safety of the drug or affects the disease process being treated by the drug, and includes, without limitation, genes that encode gene products that are targets for drug action, gene products that are involved in the metabolism, activation or degradation of the drug, gene products that are involved in the bioavailability or elimination of the drug to the target, gene products that affect biological pathways that, in turn, affect the action of the drug such as the synthesis or degradation of competitive substrates or allosteric effectors or rate limiting reaction, or, alternatively, gene products that affect the pathophysiology of the disease process. (Particular variances in the latter category of genes may be associated with patient groups in whom disease etiology is more or less susceptible to amelioration by the drug. For example, there are several pathophysiological mechanisms in hypertension, and depending on the dominant mechanism in a given patient, that patient may be more or less likely than the average hypertensive patient to respond to a drug that primarily targets one pathophysiological mechanism. The relative importance of different pathophysiological mechanisms in individual patients is likely to be affected by variances in genes associated with the disease pathophysiology. The xe2x80x9cactionxe2x80x9d of a drug refers to its effect on biological products within the body. The action of a drug also refers to its effects on the signs or symptoms of a disease or condition, or effects of the drug that are unrelated to the disease or condition leading to unanticipated effects on other processes. Such unanticipated processes often lead to adverse events or toxic effects. The terms xe2x80x9cadverse eventxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ctoxicxe2x80x9d eventxe2x80x9d are known in the art and include, without limitation, those listed in the FDA reference system for adverse events.
In accordance with the aspects above and the Detailed Description below, there is also described for this invention an approach or method for developing drugs that are explicitly indicated for, and/or for which approved use is restricted to individuals in the population with specific variances or combinations of variances, as determined by diagnostic tests for variances or variant forms of certain genes involved in the disease or condition or involved in the action of the drug. Such drugs may provide more effective treatment for a disease or condition in a population identified or characterized with the use of a diagnostic test for a specific variance or variant form of the gene if the gene is involved in the action of the drug or in determining a characteristic of the disease or condition. Such drugs may be developed using the diagnostic tests for specific variances or variant forms of a gene to determine the inclusion of patients in a clinical trial.
Thus, the invention also provides a method for producing a pharmaceutical composition by identifying a compound which has differential activity against a disease or condition in patients having at least one variance in a gene, compounding the pharmaceutical composition by combining the compound with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, excipient, or diluent such that the composition is preferentially effective in patients who have at least one copy of the variance or variances. In some cases, the patient has two copies of the variance or variances. In preferred embodiments, the disease or condition, gene or genes, variances, methods of administration, or method of determining the presence or absence of variances is as described for other aspects of this invention.
Similarly, the invention provides a method for producing a pharmaceutical agent by identifying a compound which has differential activity against a disease or condition in patients having at least one copy of a form of a gene having at least one variance and synthesizing the compound in an amount sufficient to provide a pharmaceutical effect in a patient suffering from the disease or condition. The compound can be identified by conventional screening methods and its activity confirmed. For example, compound libraries can be screened to identify compounds which differentially bind to products of variant forms of a particular gene product, or which differentially affect expression of variant forms of the particular gene, or which differentially affect the activity of a product expressed from such gene. Preferred embodiments are as for the preceding aspect.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method of treating a disease or condition in a patient by selecting a patient whose cells have an allele of a gene selected from the genes listed herein, preferably in Tables 2, 6, or 8. The allele contains at least one variance correlated with more effective response to a treatment of the disease or condition, or tolerance of a treatment, e.g., a treatment with a drug or a drug of a class indicated herein.
Preferably the allele contains a variance as shown in Tables 2, 6, or 8 or other variance table herein. Also preferably, the altering involves administering to the patient a compound preferentially active on at least one but less than all alleles of the gene. Preferred embodiments include those as described above for other aspects of treating a disease or condition.
In a further aspect, the invention provides a method for determining a method of treatment effective to treat a disease or condition by altering the level of activity of a product of an allele of a gene selected from the genes listed in Table 2, 6, or 8, and determining whether that alteration provides a differential effect related to reducing or alleviating a disease or condition as compared to at least one alternative allele or an alteration in toxicity or tolerance of the treatment by a patient or patients. The presence of such a differential effect indicates that altering that level of activity provides at least part of an effective treatment for the disease or condition.
Preferably the determining is carried out in a clinical trial, e.g., as described above and/or in the Detailed Description below.
In still another aspect, the invention provides a method for evaluating differential efficacy of or tolerance to a treatment in a subset of patients who have a particular variance or variances in at least one gene by utilizing a clinical trial. In preferred embodiments, the clinical trial is a Phase I, II, III, or IV trial. Preferred embodiments include the stratifications and/or analyses as described below in the Detailed Description.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a method for identifying at least one variance in at least one gene using computer-based sequence analysis or variance scanning as known to those skilled in the art.
Preferably the at least one gene is a plurality of genes, preferably at least 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000, or even more. Preferably sequence and/or variance information on the plurality of genes is acumulated in one database or a set of commonly accessible databases within a single local computer network or on a single computer.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides experimental methods for finding additional variances in any of the genes provided in the table of Table 2, 6, or 8. In addition to the sequence analysis method, a number of experimental methods can also beneficially be used to identify variances. Thus the invention provides methods for producing cDNA (e.g., example 13) or genomic DNA and detecting additional variances in the genes provided in Table 2, 6, or 8 using the single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) method (Example 14), the T4 Endonuclease VII method (Example 15) or DNA sequencing (Example 16) or other methods pointed out below. The application of these methods to the identified genes will provide identification of additional variances that can affect inter-individual variation in drug or other treatment response. One skilled in the art will recognize that many methods for experimental variance detection have been described (in addition to the exemplary methods of examples 14, 15 and 16) which can be utilized. These additional methods include chemical cleavage of mismatches (see, e.g., Ellis T P, et al., Chemical cleavage of mismatch: a new look at an established method. Human Mutation 11(5):345-53, 1998), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (see, e.g., Van Orsouw N J, et al., Design and application of 2-D DGGE-based gene mutational scanning tests. Genet Anal. 14(5-6):205-13, 1999) and heteroduplex analysis (see, e.g., Ganguly A, et al., Conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis for rapid detection of single-base differences in double-stranded PCR products and DNA fragrnents: evidence for solvent-induced bends in DNA heteroduplexes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 90 (21):10325-9, 1993).
In embodiments any of the above methods involving determination of the presence or absence of a particular variance or variances, the method preferably involves determining the presence or absence using a cell sample from an individual or individuals. Thus, the methods can also involve obtaining a cell sample from an individual. The cell sample can be any of a variety of different cells, e.g., blood cells skin cells, muscle cells, normal cells, or cancer cells.
By xe2x80x9ccomprisingxe2x80x9d is meant including, but not limited to, whatever follows the word xe2x80x9ccomprisingxe2x80x9d. Thus, use of the term xe2x80x9ccomprisingxe2x80x9d indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present. By xe2x80x9cconsisting ofxe2x80x9d is meant including, and limited to, whatever follows the phrase xe2x80x9cconsisting ofxe2x80x9d. Thus, the phrase xe2x80x9cconsisting ofxe2x80x9d indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, and that no other elements may be present. By xe2x80x9cconsisting essentially ofxe2x80x9d is meant including any elements listed after the phrase, and limited to other elements that do not interfere with or contribute to the activity or action specified in the disclosure for the listed elements. Thus, the phrase xe2x80x9cconsisting essentially ofxe2x80x9d indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present depending upon whether or not they affect the activity or action of the listed elements.